Thin films Research: The past, Present and the Future

Speaker : Professor K. L. Chopra

2016-02-03

Abstract :

Thin Films are two dimensional nanomaterials created by depositing one-by-one atomic species of a given material onto a suitable substrate. This process of ab-initio creation of matter involves several basic processes which include generation of atomic species as the building blocks, transport of the species through an appropriate medium, and interaction with a suitable substrate followed by nucleation and growth processes. Numerous industrial scale deposition techniques categorized as physical , chemical , electrochemical , plasma, hybrids , ranging from very simple to very sophisticated ones , have been developed over the last few decades. A number of deposition parameters combine to determine the chemical structure, micro/nano structure , topography and consequently the various properties of the films . Relaxed solubility conditions in the case of co-deposited species of different materials yield exotic materials in the form of metastable alloys and compounds. By sequential deposition of different atomic or molecular species, Thin Films with a periodic , or periodic-aperiodic lattices of a combination of different starting materials can be created to yield new properties . Novel properties of Thin-Films find innumerable billion dollar industrial applications globally in such areas as decorative and protective coatings, surface technologies, solar thermal and solar photovoltaics, optics and photonics, sensors of various types , micro and nano-electronics, catalysis ,nano-magnetics, spintronics, memories, quantum standards , biomedical ,etc.
The present talk enumerates the evolution of research in Thin films and sees into the future trends.

About the speaker

After migrating from Pakistan,Prof Chopra obtained BSc(Hons) and MSc in Physics from Delhi University and PhD from University of British Columbia,Canada under World Univ Fellowship.After working in senior R&D positions for 17 years in different institutions in Canada, Germany and USA, he joined IITD as Senior Professor and served in various senior academic positions as Head and Dean . Challenged by the offer of Directorship of IITKharagpur, he served for two terms of 10years as an exceptional case and turned the IIT around to its premier place. After retirement, he served IITD as IREDA Chair Prof in the area of Solar Energy.Presently , he is a Distinguished Honorary Professor of several premier academic institutions and Advisor/ Consultant to several industries
Prof Chopra has supervised 60 PhD students,authored/co-authored /edited 10 books, published over 430 research papers, held 5 US patents, and transferred 10 know-hows to industry in the areas related to Thin Films andNanomatter. His first book Thin Film Phenomena published in 1969 is still considered as the Bible of the field for students. Recipient of awards which include S S Bhatnagar Prize,Bhabha Award ;Krishnan , Aryabhatta &Mahalanobis Medals ,FICCI ,Bhasin and RoyAwards, Distinguished Scientist and Life-time achievements awards of Solar Energy Society , Indian Vacuum Society andMaterials Research Society of India , Life Time Contributions Award in Engineering by Indian National Academy of Engineering and the ISI( USA) Citation -Laureate award for being one of the 8 "most highly cited" scientist of India . Elected as Fellow of all Science and Engineering Academies of India ,Prof Chopra has been conferred Padamshri by the Government of India for his contributions to science and engineering.